I am still researching this relative quite intensively, but I first became aware of him a few months back when I found him mentioned in the Windsor Union Workhouse Relative’s Book. His entry was one which kind of confirmed my suspicions regarding the Smith/Attwell combination as his relative was given as Mrs Smith (Attwell), grandmother. This meant he was the child of one of Elizabeth Attwell’s own children, but which one? After looking through the Baptism Book at the Old Windsor vicarage, I found two Fredericks, one a Frederick William Attwell, born 1897 to Elizabeth Attwell, Single Mother at the Windsor Union Workhouse, the other was a William Frederick Attwell, born 1909 to Elizabeth Attwell, Single Woman, Crimp Hill House (another name for the Workhouse).The Relative’s Book had stated that the Frederick I was looking for was born in 1909, so I know that he must be the one. This means that his mother was Elizabeth Attwell (b 1877), daughter of Elizabeth Attwell (1855). The entry for his birth in the BMD registers is as Frederick William, not William Frederick which led me to believe that the earlier Frederick must have been the son on Elizabeth (1855) as I couldn’t find a death entry which would justify having two children of the same name.

The next time that Frederick (1909) popped up was in the School Records of St Peter’s School in Old Windsor, he joined the school in 1916, his parent/guardian was given as ‘The Master – Boy’s Home’ and his address was Albany House. He left the school in 1920, the note next to his entry reads, ‘Left the country (Gone to Canada)’. I later discovered that Albany House Boy’s Home was part of the Windsor Union Workhouse.

I was told that around the late 19th & early 20th century, a lot of children were sent to Canada (via Liverpool) to start new lives out there, so I started digging around passenger lists (http://www.CollectionsCanada.gc.ca) etc. and up popped Frederick on board the SS Metagama, leaving Liverpool 3rd Sep 1920, arriving in Quebec on the 11th Sep 1920 with the Macpherson party, destination Marchmont Home, Belleville, Ontario. Some more digging gave me some interesting background information on the emigration process (http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/children/Organizations/birt.html) and some names of people to contact who may have more information. A couple of emails later and I got this information from John Sayers of BIFHS (http://www.bifhsgo.ca/home_children_index.htm ):

On film #T-14948 is a copy of Frederick’s landing card, or 30A card. Between 1 Jan 1920 and 31 Dec 1924 Canada used the 30A Landing card rather than a copy of the ships manifest, in 1925 they went back to the manifest.

During my last visit to Berkshire Records Office, I spent some time looking through the records of the Workhouse and found several letters from the master to Miss [Lilian] Birt of the Liverpool Sheltering Homes during 1920, organising the emigration process, several mentioned Frederick and other children that were to be emigrated (including the ones mentioned in the info above). The departure from the home to Liverpool was also mentioned in the Master’s Journal.

So I now know where he was up until 1929 when he completed his indenture. Now I have to start looking for any descendants he may have but, being in England, this might not be so easy as I’ve only ever researched records in this country. If I can find a living descendant, not only will I make contact with this lost branch but I can then request information from Dr Barnado’s as they have now taken over the records and they will only give out records to the next of kin. There is a chance that they will have a photo of the young Frederick too.

Just a quickie today, I mentioned in the last post that I would talk about the benefits of living near your
ancestors. The vast majority of my known ancestors came from Berkshire, some from the west and, more
recently, I have found some from the east. I live 10 minutes from the eastern border of Berkshire, so it’s
not a huge difficulty in getting to the places mentioned in the records. In fact, my parents have recently
moved to within a mile of where a chunk of my dad’s family were born & grew up and I work in the same town as my grandfather was born.

This is all well and good, but what benefits does this offer, especially as a LOT of my research has been
done online? Well, the Berkshire Records Office (BRO) is only a 45 minute drive away, so I can often be found in there poring over microfiches, microfilms or even original documents to find new leads. More recently, I have been trying to find places mentioned in the records to get an idea of what life was like etc. This came in handy when a New Zealand cousin sent me a photo of a house, the only info written on the photo was the town ‘Old Windsor’. She gave me a few clues as to who was living there and why (they were apparently looking after the church). A little digging and I have found the house, Church Cottage, right next to St Luke’s Church, it’s still standing and it hasn’t changed that much. Other places that have gone are Bartlett’s Farm in Albany Road and Trafalgar Place. There are new(ish) houses where Bartlett’s Farm was and just a wasteland where Trafalgar Place stood though there is evidence of concrete floors & demolished brick walls scattered around.

While searching for Bartlett’s Farm, I came across a rather interesting set of documents at the BRO, letters
to and from Burnett Brothers & Sons in London, regarding the valuation of the property (amongst others). One of my relatives is mentioned in several of the documents as the then current tenant and there is even a hand-written letter from him. All of the documents are from 1897.

When I spoke to my parents about this search for old buildings, they handed me a book that a neighbour had given them when they moved in, all about the buildings in the town, it proved very useful in many ways, not least the fact that the author had printed he address in it and was still living there. I made a phone call and she agreed to meet me to chat about some of the houses. When I arrived, I was amazed to find she had all of the school records for the local school as the headmaster had decided to get rid of them and she felt she should preserve them for posterity. I am so glad she did, I found many of my relatives in there, including my own grandfather (the first time I’d seen him recorded as having been in the Workhouse, unlike many of his siblings who spent a lot of time in there it seems). It also confirmed my Smith/Attwell conundrum as he was recorded as Attwell but with a note stating his name was given as Smith when he was admitted.

The other interesting one was a mention of my Dad’s 1st cousin, Frederick William Attwell. His last attendance was in 1920 and the note next to it said ‘Left the country (Gone to Canada)’ his address was Albany House and the parent/guardian was ‘The Master, Boys Home’. I have since discovered much more about him, but using online resources and the kindness of other people halfway round the world, I will elaborate on that in the next thrilling installment!

Anyhow, none of this would I have found if I wasn’t close enough to visit the places in question. Speaking to locals is also a huge benefit, they will tell you things that no records will show, some of which are useful and some not, but when you find a clue that opens up a whole new branch, grasp it with both hands!!

I have several places further afield that I need to visit to try to further some of my other lines but I know I will only be able to get so far, as each little clue takes a while to research further and if you are only there for a few days, you can only get so much.

I know I am one of the lucky ones, most of my lot didn’t move too far.

Since my last post, I have continued to search for the Attwell family and also Elizabeth’s ancestry too. Robert Ernest Smith is still a conundrum and I guess I will have to tackle that brick wall at some point.

Before moving on to Elizabeth’s parents etc, let me just complete what I have on the Attwells to date. I now have two more birth certificates for her children, both were registered without a forename, both were female and both birth dates match up with the approximate ages I had for them from previous sources. The first girl (Elizabeth) was born in November 1876 and registered in February 1877 by the Master of Windsor Union Workhouse. The second (Ellen) was born in February 1888 and registered in April 1888 by an E Roberts from the Workhouse who was present at the birth (this appears to be one Eliza Roberts who was a nurse at the Workhouse in the 1891 census).

The only child from this family that I have no record of birth or baptism is Kate (c1886). I have searched for various versions of the name and the only possibles are a couple of Kate Smiths born in the area. It seems unlikely to be either of these, though, as all of the others were definitely registered as Attwells. I will continue to search for evidence of her birth though.

Now onto Elizabeth’s ancestry. She was born 17th Jun 1855 in Windsor, the youngest of four children of parents George & Mary Attwell (formerly Weller), her siblings were George (1847), Thomas (c1851) and Mary Anne (c1853), all born in Windsor. A quick search of the BMD registers yielded the marriage of George Attwell & Mary Ann Weller in 1845 in Windsor. A trip to the Berkshire Records Office also supported this with the full marriage entry showing the aforementioned couple married on the 1st September 1845, both of full age. George’s father is given as Joseph Pope (another surprise!) and Mary Ann’s father was William Weller.

I haven’t got very far with Mary Ann’s ancestry yet as she was born in Pluckley in Kent in around 1819 according to the 1851 census (she died in 1857) and I can’t find any records online, so a trip to the Kent Records Office is on my to-do list for 2008.

George’s parentage was easier than I first thought after seeing a different surname for his father on the marriage entry. A quick search in the parish registers found a marriage between a Joseph Pope and Sarah Atwall (sic) in 1815 in Old Windsor. I knew George was born circa 1815, so it seems he was born before the marriage, but I haven’t managed to locate his baptism record as yet.

After the marriage, Joseph & Sarah Pope had eight other children: Henry (1817), John (1819), Charlotte (1820), Eliza (1822), Maria (1824), Mary Ann (1826), Alfred (1827) and Caroline Amelia (1830). I have since been in contact with a couple of descendants of Caroline Amelia Pope so I have quite a bit of info from them and have even found the home of one of her sons from c1904-1908 after one of my new cousins sent me a photo of the house.

I have yet to find any more information on Sarah Atwall apart from her birth place being given as Lambeth in Surrey, circa 1791 (from the 1851 census). She died in 1856.

Joseph Pope, however appears in the baptism records for Old Windsor and is the son of Thomas & Phoebe Pope. He was also born in 1791 and was the third child of six, the others being Thomas (1786), Ann (1790), Phoebe (1793), Sarah (1795) & William (1799). Thomas was born in Highworth, Wiltshire, where their parents married in 1786 (one month before Thomas was born). The couple then moved to Old Windsor where the rest of the children were born.

Well I have continued to research the Attwell/Smith line almost exclusively and now have several birth certificates, all with Elizabeth Attwell as the mother and no father’s name given. Crucially, Ernest Robert Attwell’s date of birth is 19th Jan 1884, the exact same date as I had been given for Robert Ernest Smith (my grandfather). He was born in Station Road in Egham, so I went back to the Rate Books for Egham and, in 1884, there is an entry for Robert Smith (the assumed father), living in Station Road, Egham, but the entry is crossed out. I assume that the family moved on during that year.

I also now have the birth certificates for Albert George Attwell & Edith Attwell. Albert was born in Hythe Fields, Egham in 1892 and Edith at Frog’s Island, Egham in 1890. These both tally with the Smith family living at Frog’s Island in the 1891 census (Hythe fields appears to have been a general area in which Frog’s Island was a part) I have yet to find any of the other children’s birth certificates.

I decided to check the baptisms for Old Windsor (where the Windsor Union Workhouse is located). In looking through the Parish Registers at the Berkshire Records Office, I noticed that the Old Windsor Baptism book from 1861 onwards was not present. One of the staff suggested I contact the vicar of the church in Old Windsor and, sure enough, he still had that particular book, so I made an appointment, paid my fee & sat down with the book. In there I found the baptism records for Alice Attwell (20 Dec 1881, daughter of Elizabeth Attwell, Single Woman, Windsor Union Workhouse), Ellen Attwell (28 Feb 1888, daughter of Elizabeth Attwell, Single Woman, Windsor Union Workhouse), a Frederick William Attwell (6 Jul 1897, son of Elizabeth Attwell, Single Woman, Windsor Union Workhouse), an Ernest Attwell (9 Jan 1906, son of Elizabeth Attwell, Single Woman, Windsor Union Workhouse) and a William Frederick Attwell (16 Apr 1909, son of Elizabeth Attwell, Single Woman, Crimp Hill, Old Windsor).

Looking at that data a few things spring to mind. Elizabeth already had a son named Ernest (my grandfather) and, referring to the BMD registers, the only Attwell born in Windsor district in that year (or the surreounding years) is one Robert Attwell (sounds like another Robert Ernest/Ernest Robert issue!). Also, referring to BMD again, Frederick William & William Frederick were both registered as Frederick William Attwell. Now the first one may have died and she’s named the next one the same but I have another theory. Remember in the last post, I mentioned I had found a Frederick Attwell mentioned in the Windsor Union Workhouse Relatives’ book? Well, his relative was given as ‘Mrs Smith (Attwell), grandmother…’ So this Frederick must have been the son of her eldest daughter, also Elizabeth Attwell. This leads me to suspect that the Ernest/Robert that was baptised in Old Windsor in 1906 was also the younger Elizabeth’s son. I know that the younger Elizabeth spent time in the workhouse around that time because she is mentioned in the Punishment Book: 3rd Oct 1904, Elizabeth Attwell aged 27 – Disorderly Conduct – to be confined in a separation ward, one day, 3 meals low diet.

I’m in two minds whether to order the birth certificates for these latest children as I won’t be able to tell which Elizabeth was the mother.

I have also now got the marriage certificates for Elizabeth (the elder)’s daughters Kate & Ellen. Ellen did indeed marry Frank Bissett (mentioned in a previous post) and Kate married William Reginald Caister Prangley (again, mentioned in a previous post). I already had Robert Ernest (my grandfather)’s marriage certificate. They all married as Smith. Ellen Smith was a witness at Kate’s marriage and Edith was a witness at Ellen’s marriage.

I am going back to the BRO tomorrow to do some more digging and I was also contacted by a descendant of Ellen Attwell/Smith recently (through this blog) so, hopefully I may find out even more about this frustrating yet fascinating family!